I'm so very impressed at how well Miss Paws is coming along. She definitely rules the house I used the bell on the door for Mathilda and it worked great. Of course the bell is long gone (she ripped it off the door and ate the ribbon) but she jumps at the door and comes and gets me - even if she has to stand on top of me - to let her out. Happy training!

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JaneyMae

Tangle Goblinwitch: She is only seen in the enchanted moment between sleep and waking

"Never miss a chance to shut up." Will Rogers

Leprechauns, castles, good luck and laughter.Lullabies, dreams and love ever after.A thousand welcomes when anyone comes...That's the Irish for You!

In today's episode of "As The Puppy Turns" we find The Mommy sending a message to her sister:

In a note I wrote to my sister:

Unfortuantely, you don't have a Paws to help you to do EVERYTHING. Paws thinks she can type, read, dig in the garden, carry weeds, haul tools, gloves, EVERYTHING that isn't nailed down!, jumpdown from high places (even though she can't do that yet) - she does it any way!, run across the pool cover, chew rocks and everything else.

And she looks so INNOCENT!

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"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." Carl Sagan

I've been keeping Paws ON THE LEASH every time I've let her outside since you left today. This is because she doesn't seem to come when I call her - YET. So I just figured that she'd come if I had hold of her - make sense? This last time I had her out on the leash she pooed - YIPPEE - and then we walked into the house.

WOW - I LIKE this. Now if I can just teach her to come when I call her. I can't give up.

Writing to the owner of Paws cousin Bayi, The Mommy:

Mari's pup is a bit older than Paws. I wrote Mari about how Paws pees after she comes indoors after being outside for hours. I told her I was just frustrated as could be over that and wondered if Paws would ever grow out of it. This was her response:

Yes Bayli still does it. Some times I think she is just a little devil but they will grow out of it. Mari

In todays episode of "As The Puppy Turns", the Mommy goes out to do some gardening:

Mommy: I just went out to water the plants because they were VERY dry. Of course Paws had to help me. She walked Right into the spray and got thoughly wet. So When we came in I towel dryed her and she did love it. I think she thought I was going to play a game with her at first but when she figured out that I was just drying her off she just let me.

While Paws is young, you might want to teach her to "shake off" water on cue. I've trained labs and sled dogs to do this, and it's really nice to be able to have your dog shake off 20 feet away rather than at your feet, or inside the front door of the house.

It couldn't be easier. When you get Paws wet she will naturally want to shake off the water. So, get her wet and when she looks like she's ready to shake it off give her the verbal cue "shake off" (I also teach to a hand signal, hand outstretched and "shake it" at the dog). When shes finished shaking, give her lots of praise and maybe even a food treat.

Do it frequently, and she'll soon associate the cue with the behavior. You'll even be able to cue her to "shake off" when she's perfectly dry. I find that's pretty handy when my thick coated Chinook has a bunch of bedding straw stuck in his fur. I can cue him to "shake off" and he doesn't track nearly so much straw into the house.

Paws had a gay old time on the pool cover this morning while I was gardening. I just haven't figured how to reason with a Chessie about how it isn't a good idea to play on a pool cover. "NO" doesn't seem to cut it. Not when pool covers are SO much fun to dance, slip and slide on! At least she left my gardening tools alone for a change. And now of course she's asleep at my feet.

"As The Puppy Turns": Last night Princess Paws got her first voyage on her royal barge. It took her a while to get used to the open boat: Perhaps 5 seconds. She LOVES the boat. She tried to look out of all sides at once. She examinied the spray closely (not too closely, the leash was on). At full speed, her head was up her nose going at full speed and her ears flying freely. The amazing thing was that for a 3 month puppy she went 2 hours without pooing or peeing! When everyone else ate lunch, she did too - but still she was so taken with the water around her that she didn't do her 'business'!! WHAT A POOCH!

We are sooo enjoying these reports from puppy-land!! Boy, do they bring back memories of our girl's exploits! She's 4 years old now, but still very much a pup at heart. She used to love to "help" me do my gardening - especially the digging part, and would even pitch in and create a few new beds from those pesky grassy areas for me . Nowadays I only have to worry during tulip season, as she thinks it's a great game to behead them, in multiple creative ways.

Hubby came up with a few creative names for her, too - most are cute: "Smoochy Poochy", "Sassy Lassy", "Muttious Buttious", and the ever-popular "Dawg".

Please keep recounting her adventures!

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Look with the eyes of a child.

'Hope guides me. It is what gets me through the day, and especially the night.' -- A Knight's Tale "I talk to you as I talk to my own soul...and, Sassenach,” he whispered, “your face is my heart.” -- Jamie Fraser, "Dragonfly In Amber" by Diana Gabaldon @Dremnghrt on Twitter, Dreamnghrt on tumblr - come say Hi!

In today's episode of "As The Puppy Turns", we have reports from the Mommy:

Remember that Playschool childs swimming pool that was given to us for Paws? Since it is such a hot day, I filled it with water and threw all of Paws 6 balls in it. She takes the balls out one by one and hides them behind a bush. After they are all out she retrieves them to the pool.

You will have to see the photos. They are great!

And later:

jumping in and out of that pool really pooped Paws out! She's is zoonked out!

The reason Paws was wiped out was that the ball movement was all done at very high speed. After putting the balls back in the pool, she repeated the entire process twice.

She's got a gorgeous coat -- so thick and so plushy! I bet when she shakes off water, it's a real flood.

It is indeed a flood. She can pick up half a beach by rolling in the sand. Bugs try to penetrate that jungle and finally just give up. Fortunatly The Mommy has her trained to stand quietly on the grooming table. I get to haul the dirt back outside.

In today's episode, The Daddy (puppy slave) takes Princess Paws out for her early morning walk. The Princess pranced out to the middle of the pool (cover still on, not exercise in holiness) and squated to do her thing. The Daddy yelled "NO".Princess Paws stopped in mid squat and ran off pool cover, wagging her tail in supplication. She then followed The Daddy up to the grass where she is supposed to do these things. Upon his command "go pee", she produced her usual morning flood. When done, she turned to The Daddy and and said "rrrroooooo". This was her first time giving the famous chessie expression of delight.